Sample analyzers are known that analyze a sample such as urine or blood collected from a subject (patient), and display the obtained analysis result.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H11-83726 discloses an automated white blood cell classifying apparatus for sequentially photographing a blood sample housed in a cassette by an imaging section, automatically classifying the white blood cells in the sample, and outputting, to a screen, the image of the automatically classified white blood cells, automated classification result, image of the red blood cells, and counting result. In this automated white blood cell classifying apparatus, an operator performs a review based on the aforementioned output, and the operator-reviewed classification result data, specifically, the classification result of each blood cell type, as well as the operator comments are output.
When the analysis result is referenced by another operator, it is useful to display the comments, such as opinions or cautionary notes of the first operator together with the analysis result as in the automated white blood cell classifying apparatus disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H11-83726 so that the other operator can comprehend the opinion or cautionary note. However, when a comment is associated to one analysis result, that comment cannot be displayed when viewing another analysis result to which a comment is not associated. That is, when several analysis results have something in common and a comment related to this commonality is associated with one analysis result, the comment cannot be displayed when another analysis result is displayed. It is also difficult to find the analysis result to which the desired comment is associated. It cannot be said, therefore, that the automated white blood cell classifying apparatus disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H11-83726 is configured to make comments sufficiently usable.